#GivingTuesday

On December 1st National Justice For Our Neighbors will participate in #GivingTuesday.

There are many more young people like David in the story below, kids seeking refuge from fear, brutality, and never-ending violence. They have risked everything for a new life, but did you know that unaccompanied migrant children who reach the United States are not guaranteed legal representation? Yet those children lucky enough to find legal representation last year were nearly six times more likely to be able to remain lawfully in this country than those without.

____________________________________________________

David’s Journey: Seeking Refuge, Finding Hope

“I was hungry and thirsty… desperate and afraid for my life, ” David says as he recalls the harrowing journey he took from Honduras to Texas. A few years earlier, after his mother had gone to the United States for work, David was living with his grandmother in Honduras. It was during this time that he was targeted for gang recruitment. Gang members repeatedly followed him to school, threatened to kill his family, and attacked him with knives. David is a shy, studious young man who dreams of becoming an engineer; he wanted nothing to do with gangs.

With only enough money for a bus ticket to Guatemala, David started the dangerous journey to the U.S. on his own.

While riding on top of a train into Mexico, David was kidnapped at gunpoint; unable to pay the ransom, he was beaten and locked in a small room by himself. He managed to escape and completed the journey to Texas on foot. After two days lost in the desert, David found U.S. Border Patrol agents who took him into custody.

David’s case was referred to Austin Region Justice For Our Neighbors, where Attorney, Rebecca Rosenberg, helped him to apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile status. Although David is safe from the immediate threat of deportation, his ability to remain in the U.S. over the longer-term hinges upon obtaining permanent legal residency. You can help David achieve his dream of becoming an engineer, which begins with continued access to high-quality pro bono legal representation.